The Effects of Security Framing, Time Pressure, and Brand Familiarity on Risky Mobile Application Downloads

The current study examined the effects of security system framing, time pressure, and brand familiarity on mobile application download behaviors, with an emphasis on risk taking. According to the Prospect Theory, people tend to engage in irrational decision making, and make qualitatively different decisions when information is framed in terms of gains and losses (i.e., the framing effect). Past research has used this framing effect to guide the design of a risk display for mobile applications (apps), with the purpose of communicating the potential risks and minimizing insecure app selections. Time pressure has been shown to influence the framing effect in both hypothetical choices in lab settings as well as with consumer purchases, and brand familiarity has been shown to affect consumers’ purchase behaviors. Neither factor has been studied in the context of risk communication for mobile app. The current study addressed this gap in the literature and examined the effects of time pressure and brand familiarity on the effectiveness of risk displays (framed as safety or risks) for mobile apps. Specifically, users’ choices were recorded as a measure of effective risk displays. The findings from this study indicated that users rely heavily on brand familiarity when downloading apps. We also showed that security scores, especially when framed as safety, were effective at guiding choice, though this advantage of safety framing was not present when users made decisions under time pressure. The implications from the study indicate that people implicitly trust brands they recognize, safety framed security can be helpful, and decision-making processes change under time pressure

Advancements and optimization in ancient DNA protocols

The recovery of ancient DNA can only be achieved through the destructive sampling of archaeological remains. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to maximize the efficiency of both the laboratory protocols utilized and the data generated in this fashion. Here we present four manuscripts detailing a set of suggested best-practice sampling and analyses guidelines aimed at making the destructive sampling of ancient remains a more ethical and informed process. Manuscript 1 represents the first large-scale, systematic investigation of DNA preservation in Medieval skeletal remains spanning 23 possible sampling locations. We find DNA preservation to be best in cortical bone recovered from the cochlear region of the petrous pyramid, the vertebral body and superior vertebral arch of thoracic vertebrae, the exterior neck of the tali, the shaft and apical tuft of distal phalanges, as well as material recovered from the interior of the dental pulp chamber, dentin, and cementum of molars. In Manuscript 2 we provide the sampling protocols developed for the generation of bone powder from these sampling locations in both text and video formats. In Manuscript 3 we demonstrate the utility of extended screening of the datasets generated from the next generation sequencing of DNA recovered using these techniques by detailing two new high-coverage Yersinia pestis genomes recovered from these same samples. These genomes, despite not being recovered from a site exhibiting any epidemic context, provide strong evidence that Pestis secunda originated from a central European rodent refugia, continued to evolve, and later re-emerged to re-infect the human population and eventually spread back into eastern Eurasia. Manuscript 4 details a successful proof-of-concept manuscript detailing the feasibility of recovering very long DNA fragments ( > 8 kilobase pairs) from modern human dental calculus for use in the de novo assembly of high-quality oral microbiome reference genomes

Sharing atrocity stories in hospice: A study of niceness message strategies in interdisciplinary team meetings

Article on sharing atrocity stories in hospice and a study of niceness message strategies in interdisciplinary team meetings

McKenzie River Basin development risk atlas

33 pp. Maps, tables, illus

Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Strong Synthetic Magnetic Field

Extensions of Berry's phase and the quantum Hall effect have led to the discovery of new states of matter with topological properties. Traditionally, this has been achieved using gauge fields created by magnetic fields or spin orbit interactions which couple only to charged particles. For neutral ultracold atoms, synthetic magnetic fields have been created which are strong enough to realize the Harper-Hofstadter model. Despite many proposals and major experimental efforts, so far it has not been possible to prepare the ground state of this system. Here we report the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation for the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian with one-half flux quantum per lattice unit cell. The diffraction pattern of the superfluid state directly shows the momentum distribution on the wavefuction, which is gauge-dependent. It reveals both the reduced symmetry of the vector potential and the twofold degeneracy of the ground state. We explore an adiabatic many-body state preparation protocol via the Mott insulating phase and observe the superfluid ground state in a three-dimensional lattice with strong interactions.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Supplement: 6 pages, 4 figure

Effectiveness of Lateral Auditory Collision Warnings: Should Warnings Be Toward Danger or Toward Safety?

Objective. The present study investigated the design of spatially oriented auditory collision warning signals to facilitate drivers’ responses to potential collisions. Background. Prior studies on collision warnings have mostly focused on manual driving. It is necessary to examine the design of collision warnings for safe take-over actions in semi-autonomous driving. Method. In a video-based semi-autonomous driving scenario, participants responded to pedestrians walking across the road, with a warning tone presented in either the avoidance direction or the collision direction. The time interval between the warning tone and the potential collision was also manipulated. In Experiment 1, pedestrians always started walking from one side of the road to the other side. In Experiment 2, pedestrians appeared in the middle of the road and walked toward either side of the road. Results. In Experiment 1, drivers reacted to the pedestrian faster with collision-direction warnings than with avoidance-direction warnings. In Experiment 2, the difference between the two warning directions became non-significant. In both experiments, shorter time intervals to potential collisions resulted in faster reactions but did not influence the effect of warning direction. Conclusion. The collision-direction warnings were advantageous over the avoidance-direction warnings only when they occurred at the same lateral location as the pedestrian, indicating that this advantage was due to the capture of attention by the auditory warning signals. Application. The present results indicate that drivers would benefit most when warnings occur at the side of potential collision objects rather than the direction of a desirable action during semi-autonomous driving

Impact of identity politics on education in Pakistan: a comparison between Balochistan and Punjab

This research paper examines the impact of ethnic identity based politics on education in Pakistan through in-depth interviews with young professionals from Balochistan and Punjab. Findings suggest that there is the Punjabi-dominated power structure results in an unequal allocation of financial resources, whereby Balochistan lacks the financial resources to invest in education development. In addition, political instability caused by unprecedented ethnic strife contributes towards poor quality education, which, as a result, adversely impacts a Balochi's future course of life. On the other hand, Punjabis are at an advantage in the public arena because of their robust educational foundation